DALLAS » American Airlines says it has repaired 42 of 48 planes that were pulled aside and inspected because the seats could come loose.

The airline said today that all seat repairs on its Boeing 757 airplanes should be done by Saturday.

American is canceling 44 flights today after it scrapped 50 flights Thursday because of the seat problem.

Crews inspected the planes earlier in the week and thought they had fixed them. Then on Thursday American said it discovered the real reason the seats weren’t staying in place — a pin that locks them into the aircraft floor could pop out because of wear and dirt in the floor tracks.

The seat fiasco comes as American is still trying to recover from widespread delays and flight cancelations in September.